Risk of Inherited Diseases: A study conducted at University of Helsinki demonstrates has revealed genetic information can play a crucial role in determining the probability of most common inherited diseases.
The above study can be used alongside the traditionally used family history assessment methods.
You might be aware that physicians worldwide make use of family history in assessing the risks of developing some common diseases like diabetes, cancers and coronary heart diseases.
In addition to the above, physicians have developed the polygamy risk scores that are based on the basis of genome wide DNA testing.
The above tests can be used to determine genetic susceptibility among patients. And so, Polygenic risk scores are known to measure a person’s individual’s own genetic risk factors.
Clinicians have asked what polygenic risk assessment adds to the seemingly simple question about family history. Our new results show that the two measures complement each other. Moreover, combining them provides the most accurate information for evaluation of inherited disease risk.”
Nina Mars, Study’s First Author, Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki
In the recent study conducted by the University of Helsinki, researchers have compared both these studies and successfully analyzed over 20 most common diseases.
The study mainly focused on some diseases like coronary heart diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, and common cancers.
Now, the result shows that both polygamic risk scores and family history can be beneficial in provding complementary information in the assessment of the inherited diseases risk.
You might be looking forward to know how the study was conducted. Well, it was conducted based on the data supplied by the FinnGen research project which involved as many as 300,000 Finnish biobank participants.
The data analyzed clearly showed that the disease risk was higher if the person had more than average polygamy risk and family history.
At the same time, the results also revealed that a lower polygenic risk can compensate for the high risk effect of family history.
It clearly signifies that people with low polygamy score was not elevated even if they had a strong foamily history of the disease.
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Genetic Information More Personalized Than Family History
Polygamy risk simply analyzes a person’s own genetic risk of developing a disease far more accurately as compared to the family history of the person. Still, it can’t be called as a substitute for the family history.
Please note that Polygenic risk measurements are not currently being used in clinical assessments to check the disease risk.
Source:
Journal reference:
Mars, N., et al. (2022) Systematic comparison of family history and polygenic risk across 24 common diseases. The American Journal of Human Genetics. doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2022.10.009.
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